nd all her near ones again, that they had one and all
forgiven her the past; and sometimes she imagined that it was not really
twenty years since she went away: those twenty years seemed to shrink.
In her brothers and sisters she recognized by degrees all the
peculiarities of former days, just as though they had grown no older;
and Mamma had remained exactly the same. Nor could she but admire
secretly the almost childlike simplicity of Van der Welcke, who moved
about calmly in the midst of her relations, though they were all utter
strangers to him and though he; of course, could have no family-feeling
for any of them. He was most intimate with Paul and oftenest in his
company. Constance would have liked to see more of Bertha, but it was
true, they lived at some distance from each other; and yet they found
each other again, as sisters, in that conversation shortly after
Emilie's marriage. Constance indeed was surprised that an open-hearted
talk such as this was not more often renewed between Bertha and herself;
but, in any case, they now felt as sisters. As for Karel and Cateau, no,
they remained distant and strangers, were hardly more intimate with her
than if they had been remote acquaintances; but Gerrit had conceived a
sort of passion for Constance; and, inasmuch as she had shown so much
tolerance towards Adolphine, the latter really seemed a little more
gently disposed to her, for Adolphine remembering all Constance'
admiration and praise of Floortje's trousseau, had been heard to say:

"She's not so bad, Constance; Constance can be rather nice when she
pleases."

It was summer now; and Constance felt happy. Bertha and her children
went to Switzerland, where Van Naghel was to join them in August, and
Adolphine went for a month to the Rhine, but Mamma remained at the
Hague; and Constance was delighted to see her mother every day. They
often drove out together; and they would leave the carriage in the
Scheveningen "Woods" or in the Hague "Wood" and walk along the paths.
And Mamma always talked about the children, or the grandchildren, or the
two great-grandchildren: the children of Otto and Frances, who had gone
to Switzerland with the others. As Bertha was not at the Hague that
summer, the old woman had transferred her partiality to Gerrit's
children, thinking them nice because they were so young. And so she and
Constance often went to Gerrit's and found him in the little
morning-room, ready to go out, in uniform, r